Things Stay the Same
by Twilight Titan
Summary: Taking place immediately following "Things Change," the Titans have reason to believe that Slade is going to harm Terra. To prevent this from happening, Raven and Beast Boy go undercover at Terra's high school to protect her. Will this mission drive a wedge between them or will something more emerge between the teammates?
1. Chapter 1: An Unexpected Caller

A/N: I do not own Teen Titans.

* * *

Raven hardly waited for the doors to the common room to open before she flew to the sofa. She tried her best to keep her team's drained emotions from infiltrating her mind. She pulled her hood down and sat on the very end of the couch. The rest of the Teen Titans followed closely behind her, seemingly also intent on relaxing. Starfire headed for the kitchen while the three boys sprawled across various parts of the sofa.

Robin sat on the left side, stretching his arms before folding them behind his head. Cyborg sat down near the center of the couch, resting his arms on either side of him on the back of the sofa. Beast Boy flopped backwards on the cushion, letting his feet dangle over the back while his head hung listlessly off the couch by Raven's feet.

"Man," Cyborg yawned, "That white monster thingy really took it out of me."

"You are correct, friend Cyborg," Starfire said while reaching in to the fridge for a bottle of yellow mustard. She came to the couch and sat cross-legged next to Robin, taking a large swig of her drink. "This particular foe was quite unpleasant."

Robin nodded in agreement. "If Beast Boy hadn't shown up when he did, we probably all would have been burnt to crisps. Although, if he had been with the team in the first place, we wouldn't have needed to wait so long for him to show up."

Beast Boy lifted his head to defend himself, but when he saw the teasing smirk playing on Robin's face, he let it slump back down again.

"Whatever, dude," he said, waving his hand, "I was busy, and you know it. You're just lucky I showed up to handle your dirty work for you."

"Right, you were _busy_ ," Cyborg said, the sarcasm evident in his voice, "with blonde-haired high school girls that want absolutely nothin' to do with your scrawny butt."

This time Beast Boy did lift his head to speak. "Look, Cy, I know no one wants to believe me, but Terra is alive, and I think she remembers who she really is. She didn't want to at first, but I think she's coming around now."

No one responded, so Beast Boy looked around at his team desperately, noting their skeptical faces, "Tell me someone believes me on this."

Starfire looked at him sympathetically, "I am most sorry, friend Beast Boy, but your claim appears to be slightly outlandish. We all witnessed Terra as a rock formation after she sacrificed herself to save us from the underground explosion."

When Beast Boy's ears drooped as a clear sign of sadness, Starfire said, "Perhaps, to appease your mind, we could all journey to the place of her resting to ensure that her statue has remained untouched."

Beast Boy did an ecstatic somersault off of the couch, landing on all fours before straightening up.

"Seriously, Star?" he asked enthusiastically, "That would be great! You guys could see that the statue is gone, and then you guys would totally believe me, and you can help me figure out how to get her back on our team! Raven could transport us there right now, right, Rae?"

Beast Boy turned to face Raven with large, pleading eyes. Raven looked up at him with a passive expression.

"First of all, my name is Raven, not Rae. Secondly, no, I will not transport all of us to the cavern at this moment. We just finished fighting that villain and I would like to rest and meditate before using any more of my powers. Furthermore, I'm tired and would not like to go on any fishing expeditions at this point in time."

Beast Boy looked taken aback. Though Raven was exhausted, she opened her empathic senses to feel Beast Boy's emotions. Raven was unsurprised when she could feel the disappointment pouring off him in waves.

"But Rae-" he started.

"My name is Raven," she said as she interrupted him, "and I said no, Beast Boy. I need to rest and meditate. Stop whining and let it go." The tone of finality was clear in her voice.

Beast Boy's face contorted into a look of anger at her blatant dismissal. The change in his emotions was instantaneous. He had gone from hopeful to disappointed to furious in the matter of seconds. Raven was worried that maybe she had pressed one too many buttons but before she could try to soothe the situation, he was speaking.

"Right, _Raven_ ," Beast Boy said her name with a sneer, "I forgot that you were the only person on this team who could make decisions. And excuse me for not taking your meditation schedule into consideration for something so huge- like Terra being alive!"

By the end of his sentence he was nearly yelling at her. The anger that Raven felt him giving off was strong. Suddenly, the emotion completely cut off and a void was left in Raven's senses. She could feel nothing coming from him. Beast Boy took a step towards her, lowered his voice, and said, "You never think about what everyone else wants or what's good for them. You know, if you stopped being so damn selfish all of the time, I think this team would be way better off."

Raven's lips parted slightly in shock and Beast Boy's eyes widened slightly, as if even he was surprised at what he had said.

They looked at each other for only a split second before Beast Boy turned on his heel and stormed out of the common room, not acknowledging, or even stopping at the calls of Robin, Starfire, or Cyborg.

Raven was astonished Beast Boy spoke to her like that. She had made him mad before, of course, but he had never used that tone of voice with her. It was unsettling.

Raven was also confused at the fact that she lost detection of Beast Boy's emotions during his outburst. Fury was a strong emotion. She knew she should have been bombarded with his anger, not completely cut off from it.

Raven stopped pondering this, and she schooled her face so that it did not betray her confusion and surprise. She did not want the others to see that Beast Boy's actions had affected her. She simply pulled up her hood around her face and dropped her eyes to the floor.

The other Titans stared shocked at the door for a moment before they focused on Raven.

Cyborg was the first to try to speak.

"Raven, are you good?"

"Yes," she responded in her monotone without lifting her head, "I'm fine. This isn't the first time we've witnessed Beast Boy lash out when it comes to Terra. I believe it was to be expected."

Robin nodded his head slowly. "Yeah, I know we've seen him become a little irrational with Terra involved, but don't you think you may have been a little harsh on him, too?"

Raven did not answer. After a few seconds of tense silence, Cyborg stood up and said, "I think someone needs to go talk to BB just to make sure he's okay and not rippin' his room to shreds, so I'm gonna go do that."

Starfire and Robin nodded in agreement as Cyborg walked around the couch and through the common room doors.

Just as Cyborg reached a little over halfway to Beast Boy's room, he heard a loud crash followed closely by a growl. He quickened his pace.

When he arrived at Beast Boy's room, the door was open and he saw the changeling, still in his human form, let go of the desk chair in his hand and hurl it across the room with a grunt. It splintered into three pieces as it collided with the side of the bunk bed. It fell into a pile of other broken wood that looked suspiciously like it used to be his bedside table. Beast Boy began to reach for the lamp on his desk.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, B, chill out!" Cyborg yelled as he ran into the room. Beast Boy's hand stilled as it hovered over the lamp. "You might be worked up, but breaking things that I'm just gonna have to fix is not the answer."

Beast Boy glared at Cyborg but made no move to pick up the lamp. After a moment, his face relaxed, he turned, walked toward the bed on the other side of the room, and sat on the bottom bunk. He put his head in his hands and groaned.

"Was Raven really upset that I yelled at her?" Beast Boy's muffled voice asked. The sudden change in attitude startled Cyborg.

"Aww, you know Raven," Cyborg eventually answered, rubbing the top of his head. "She doesn't get too upset. She's as stone-faced as ever. I think it'd take a little more than that to rattle her."

"You know, Cy, I couldn't even see your face, and I still know you're a pretty terrible liar," Beast Boy said morosely.

After a few seconds, he lifted his head to look Cyborg in his face. Beast Boy's face was a mixture of amusement and sadness. Cyborg rubbed a hand over the top of his head again and sighed.

"Well, ya know, she didn't want any of us to see it, but I think we've been living with her long enough to know what the tiniest of her facial expressions mean. So I can tell you that she did look a little upset when you walked out, man." He paused as Beast Boy's grimaced, then after a second added, "I mean, you did call her 'damn selfish,' so I think that's enough to shake up just about anyone."

"Yeah, I know I was a jerk, but I didn't mean to yell at her," Beast Boy said. Cyborg opened his mouth to say something, but Beast Boy waved his hands defensively and said, "Honest, I didn't! I just get so worked up when I think about Terra. And Raven always knows what buttons to push to make me go overboard."

Cyborg crossed his arms, leaned against the wall opposite Beast Boy, and shook his head.

"That's no excuse, B, and you know it," Cyborg said, pointing a finger in Beast Boy's direction. "She may have been a little rude to you, too, but that doesn't give you the right to get up in her face like that."

Beast Boy nodded his head in concession. "I know, I know. I'll go apologize to her when I'm almost certain she still isn't mad enough to throw me out the window."

Cyborg raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"Just like that? You were angry enough at her five minutes ago to be manhandlin' chairs, and now you're ready to apologize?"

Beast Boy rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I didn't throw that chair 'cause I was mad at Raven," he said, "I threw that chair 'cause I was mad at me."

Cyborg looked confused as he waited for an elaboration, so Beast Boy added, "I yelled at Raven for really no good reason. I mean, did you see her face, dude? She was shocked that I did that. _I_ was shocked that I did that. It was like I lost control, and I don't like losing control."

Cyborg chuckled, "Yeah," he said, "You don't like losing control and yet you hurled that chair across the room. That makes sense."

"Dude, you don't get it," Beast Boy whined leaning further back on his bed, bracing himself on his hands. "I was in total control when I threw that stuff. I wanted to break something because I was angry and if I didn't get rid of some of my anger, I was probably going to go all animal and rip up my good sheets."

He huffed out a breath, "But I don't know _why_ I yelled at her. It's not like me to yell at her just because she disagrees with me. Normally I can handle it, and today I couldn't for some reason. And I do think she can be selfish sometimes, but I don't think that we'd be better off without our Raven as she is. We need Raven, flaws and all."

Cyborg pushed off of the wall and went to sit on top of Beast Boy's desk, as there was no desk chair for him to actually sit in.

"Okay, man, I can respect that," he said, "but you gotta put a lid on that losing control stuff. The girl may not show her emotions often, but she still feels them. You can't go around yelling at her just because she's not gonna yell back. Hell, she may not cry or anything, but she'll throw you out a window for it, and that'd probably be worse than getting yelled back at, so I'd be extra careful."

Cyborg's attempt at levity had an unsuccessful effect on his green teammate. Beast Boy simply nodded his head slowly and sat forward, resting his hands on his knees. "You're right. I'll work on it. But it'll be so much easier when Raven just accepts that Terra's coming back because we totally won't fight as much."

Cyborg grimaced at Beast Boy's sentence.

"Yeah, about that," he started slowly, his eyes glued to the ground, "You do know that Terra might not be coming back, right?"

Cyborg let his words hang in the air, afraid to look up at Beast Boy's face and find a less than pleasant emotion displayed on it. But as the silence in the room turned tense, Cyborg gulped in a breath and picked up his head to look at Beast Boy.

The green boy was still sitting on the lower bunk of his bed, but his hands were gripping his sheets hard and he was watching Cyborg with a confused and angry expression.

Cyborg could sense that his sentence had angered Beast Boy much more than the cybernetic man had anticipated, so he preemptively tried to explain himself and soothe the situation.

"I just mean to say, man," he started, "that maybe she doesn't even want to come back. If she is alive, and we don't even know if she is, she might not want to be a Teen Titan anymore, and we might not let her back on the team right away either, you know?"

"Why not? Because Raven doesn't like her?" Beast Boy asked. He raked a hand through his already messy hair before returning his hand to its previous position of being curled up in the bedsheet.

"No, dude, that's not it," Cyborg sighed, "We just all know that the last time she was on the team it ended well, but there were a lotta bumps in the road. We'd have to have a long hard talk as a team about what we wanted to do. And that's even if she wanted to come back. It has nothing to do with Raven, and you know that."

Beast Boy unraveled his fingers from the bedsheets, stood up from the bed, and went to stand by his window. His back was towards Cyborg and he looked out toward the water. He took a deep breath and said, "I get that things before were a little rocky, but Terra is a Titan. Not _was_ , she _is_. We can't just abandon her."

"We wouldn't be abandoning her," Cyborg huffed out. He was starting to get annoyed at this point. "But you even told us that she didn't want to remember you. If she doesn't want to remember _you_ , what makes you think she would want to come back at all?"

Cyborg couldn't see Beast Boy's face but judging by the way that his back stiffened and his left ear twitched, Cyborg could guess that his statement may have been a little too harsh.

He opened his mouth to apologize, but before he could get a word out, Beast Boy had opened the window, lifted his foot on the ledge, and propelled himself out.

Cyborg ran over to the window in time to see his friend's freefalling form turn into an eagle. Beast Boy flapped his wings and began to fly toward the city.

And for the second time that day, Cyborg watched shocked as his normally happy and upbeat friend stormed angrily from a conversation.

 _Boy,_ Cyborg thought to himself as he tapped the window sill, incredulously shook his head, and watched as the green eagle faded into the distance, _that girl is going to be the death of him_.

He took one last look out the window before turning out the light and leaving the room.

* * *

When the doors swished shut behind Cyborg as he went to check on Beast Boy, Robin tried again. "I get that today was a little tough with the white monster, but maybe, just to make him feel better, we could have gone to the cave to see if the statue was still there and you could have meditated afterwards?"

"Robin," Raven said, the slight sigh in her voice the only indicator that she was obviously annoyed with him, "my meditation schedule is not the problem, and you know that."

Starfire set down her bottle of forgotten mustard, flying to Raven's side and settled near her, asking, "Then please, friend, explain. What is the problem?"

Raven lifted her face to see into their eyes, her hood remaining in place.

"Terra deceived us," Raven said slowly and as emphatically as she could, "She went to work with Slade, and she tried to kill us. She may have also saved our lives, but are we just going to bypass the fact that she was the one who put our lives at risk in the first place?"

Raven opened her mouth to continue speaking but quickly closed it again.

Raven knew what else she wanted to say. She wanted to tell them that she fully understood that Terra saved Beast Boy's life by not putting a rock spear through his body, and she helped them attack Slade instead. But Raven wasn't sure that if it had been any of the rest of the team on the other side of that rock that Terra wouldn't have driven it through their heart.

She knew logically that Terra had a special bond with Beast Boy that she had with no one else on the team. Even so, they had let her into their home, into their _family_ , and she threw that away by allying herself with Slade. Raven knew she couldn't easily, if ever, forgive Terra for that.

And even though that's what she wanted to say, Raven was a woman of few words, so she settled with telling them, "We trusted her, _I_ trusted her, and she betrayed us. If she truly is human again, and not a stone, and we let her back into our lives, who's to say she won't do it all again?"

Starfire contemplated this before she chimed in, "If what friend Beast Boy says is true, and Terra does not wish to remember who she is, then perhaps she is choosing to forget because she feels repentant."

Raven simply shook her head at the alien.

"She may very well feel repentant, but I don't want to risk allowing Terra back into our lives when she can hurt any one of us."

 _Especially Beast Boy_ , she thought bitterly.

Robin leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees, and considered both Starfire and Raven's words carefully before saying, "Raven, I know that you find it hard to trust people, and when you do, it is a big deal. But Terra was manipulated by Slade. She needed our help to get out from under his wing, just like I did when he manipulated me into being his apprentice. And when she finally got a real chance, she not only helped us beat Slade, but she helped us get out alive, and saved the city from destruction."

Robin paused for a moment then said, "She may have let us down once or twice before then, but when it really mattered, Terra stood with us as a Teen Titan. If she truly is human again, and we let her back into our lives, who's to say she won't be a powerful friend and teammate once again?"

Raven grimaced at Robin throwing her own words back in her face, while Starfire shook her head up and down vigorously in agreement. "Yes friend," she said, addressing Raven, "it may be difficult to accept that Terra has done the changing of her ways, but if she has, and she wants to be part of the team once again, I believe she should be welcomed with the open arms."

Raven nodded at Starfire and Robin in turn.

"You may both be right, but my trust is not something I give out blindly. Therefore, if she wants to rejoin the team, it may take me more time than the rest of you to fully accept her."

"Speaking of which," Robin said, "We can't keep using hypotheticals forever. Instead of saying 'if she's alive,' we need to know for certain. We need to go to the cave to see for ourselves."

Robin stood up and took out his communicator. He opened it, pressed a button, and phoned Cyborg.

"Cyborg, come in, Cyborg," he said into the device. "Bring yourself and Beast Boy to the common room as soon as possible."

"Yeah, sorry, dude," Cyborg's voice resonated through the communicator, "I can't exactly bring Beast Boy with me."

Before Robin could question the cybernetic man through the device, the common room doors opened, and Cyborg stepped in.

Seeing that his former method of communication had become obsolete, Robin closed his communicator and said to Cyborg, "What do you mean you can't bring Beast Boy?"

"I don't know man, we were talking one minute, then he got mad at me and flew out the window." Cyborg shrugged. "I'm not sure where he went."

Robin sighed.

"We were all going to go to the cavern to examine the validity of his statement that Terra is alive again. Guess we'll have to do this without him. All right, Titans, let's go."

* * *

Upon their return to the tower, the four Titans found the changeling sitting on the couch, seemingly waiting for their arrival.

He jumped up, and said, "Did you all go where I think you went?"

Robin stepped forward, and replied, "Yes, Beast Boy, we did, and you're right, she wasn't there. That girl you saw at Murakami very well could be her. I'm sorry we didn't believe you."

He waved his hands dismissively, "Whatever, dude. You're forgiven. So what are we going to do? Are we going to go get her from Murakami and bring her back here? I just saw her. She was walking home from school. We can go get her from her apartment 'cause I know where she lives now."

He paused for a second before stammering, "I- I mean, that's totally not weird or anything. I just wanted to go check on her, and if we were going to get her, I needed to know where she lived, and-"

"No," Robin cut in placidly, "We're not going to get her from her home. We're not bringing her here. We're not going to do anything."

Beast Boy stood stalk still. "What do you mean, 'we're not going to do anything?'" he demanded. "You just said that the girl must be her, so let's get her and bring her back home. To her real home."

The other three Titans, who had previously been standing behind Robin, silently moved to the couch to give their teammates some space to hash out whatever they needed to.

"Beast Boy," Robin said slowly, as if speaking to a small child, "You said yourself that she doesn't want to remember who she is. If that's true, we have no right to pull her from the life she's living and force her to be a Teen Titan. That wouldn't be fair. So, _if_ , not when, but _if_ , she seeks us out, wanting to become a Titan again, we'll consider letting her, but until then, we're going to leave her alone."

"But-" Beast Boy tried.

"No, Beast Boy. That's an order."

Sensing Beast Boy would continue to argue, Robin broke in with, "We're not even sure if she remembers who she is. Maybe she hasn't decided to come back to the tower because she doesn't remember she ever lived here. Being reincarnated could have given her some form of amnesia. If that's the case, we especially don't want to shock her by potentially kidnapping her and telling her she has uncontrollable powers. We aren't even sure she still has use of her powers. So, I'm sorry, Beast Boy, but for now, the answer is no."

Robin patted Beast Boy on the shoulder as he passed him. He walked to the couch and sat down next to the rest of his team.

Beast Boy looked indignant for a moment before he seemed to deflate and followed Robin's path toward the couch saying, "Yeah, you're right. I guess I was just hopeful. I miss her, that's all."

Before Beast Boy could reach the couch, however, the main frame computer flickered to life, filling the room with a sound of static.

Confused, Cyborg leapt to his feet and rushed to the console. As he rapidly tapped on the different keys and buttons, Starfire and Robin moved closer to the computer, waiting for Cyborg to update them. Beast Boy and Raven stayed back, more toward the couch, to allow the team more room.

"I'm not sure what's going on," Cyborg told them, "It doesn't matter what I do, I can't get it to return to the main screen, I can't put a different image up there, but I also can't get it to turn off, either."

Starfire flew closer to Cyborg's left side. "Friend, Cyborg," she said, "perhaps if we remove the plug from the outlet, the machine will turn itself off."

"That's not a bad idea, Star. Maybe after that I can manually reboot the entire computer," Cyborg said as he reached for the outlet.

Before his hand could touch the cord, though, the static faded and a figure materialized on the screen. The Titans collectively gasped as the ominous figure spoke.

"Hello, Titans."

* * *

A/N: Hi, everyone! This is my first multi-chapter story that I am attempting to write and I'm really excited about it! As I mentioned in the summary, this story takes place immediately after the final episode of the series, "Things Change," which means that Trouble in Tokyo does not apply. Also, as I write this story, I cannot promise timely updates, unfortunately, but I will do my best.

Sorry if Beast Boy comes off a little OOC in this first chapter, but we all know that he is wildly overprotective of Terra, and I am using that emotion to help create some tension between him and Raven. I will explain a little bit more of his moodiness in the next chapter, so don't worry.

Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2: The Mission

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

The Titans collectively gasped as the ominous figure spoke.

"Hello, Titans."

Slade Wilson's threatening form was displayed on the screen of the main frame computer. He was sitting back, seemingly relaxed, in what appeared to be a black leather desk chair. His hands were tented in front of him. The background of his video feed was completely black, eliminating any possibility of figuring out where he was calling from by simply looking at the picture.

Even though Slade's signature orange and black mask was covering his face and obscuring whatever facial expression he wore, the Titans could almost guess by the sound of his voice as it greeted them that his face was smug.

Robin took a rigid step forward, placed both of his hands flat on either side of the keyboard, and stared menacingly at the screen.

"What do you want, Slade?" he growled.

"Calm down, Robin. You are always so apprehensive. Perhaps that is why you made an abysmal apprentice."

Slade chuckled while a vein in Robin's forehead pulsed.

"Cyborg, I would recommend that you remove your hand from the cord of this console," Slade added, with a flicker of his lone visible black eye toward the cybernetic Titan. "Your team might want to hear what I have to say."

Cyborg, who had previously been frozen in his bent over position with a hand outstretched towards the outlet, straightened up and moved toward the keyboard of the computer, gently nudging Robin out of the way. He began typing furiously.

"You already know you will not be able to trace where I am calling from, boy," Slade taunted Cyborg with a shake of his head, "but I'm sure that won't stop you from trying."

As if oblivious to Slade's words, Cyborg continued to tap on the keys at a rapid pace, fervently trying to triangulate where the villain was calling from. He was mumbling under his breath every few seconds, indicating that his search was not going well.

Raven, Beast Boy, and Starfire had yet to move. They all understood that when Slade made contact, he meant business and it always put Robin in an obsessive mood. They knew it was best to stay out of the way.

Robin moved closer to Cyborg's right side and jabbed a finger towards the screen.

"Just tell me what you want, Slade!" Robin shouted.

"Ah, yes, Robin," Slade replied. His tone of voice was lazy, as if he truly had nothing better to do than to antagonize Robin. "I assume you understand that it is out of character for me to make house calls. You believe I have a purpose in contacting you today, other than speaking with my second favorite apprentice."

"Enough with the games, Slade," Robin said, swiping his right arm in front of him. "Just cut to the chase."

"Robin, Robin, Robin," Slade tsked, "you are obstinately impatient. I merely called to inform you that I have begun plotting another attack on this hovel we've named Jump City. I've decided to notify you so that my domination won't be…" he paused as if searching for the right words to say, "a walk in the park."

Slade chucked like he had made a joke that no one else was privy to.

"Believe me, Titans," he continued, looking at each of the Titans in turn, "you will not want to miss what I have planned for you."

Slade paused for a moment before his lone black, menacing eye locked with Beast Boy's two wide, green ones.

"It is going to be _earthshattering._ "

Then the screen went black, cutting off the sound of Slade's blood curdling chuckle. The Titans all stared at the blank monitor quietly, wondering what Slade's cryptic message had meant. For some time, no one moved. It wasn't until Robin broke the silence that the team began to come back to life.

"Cyborg!" Robin snapped, quickly whipping toward his teammate, "Tell me you could pinpoint his location."

"Sorry, dude," Cyborg sighed. He pressed a few more buttons on the keyboard before he turned to face Robin and said, "but he was right. I wasn't able to triangulate where he was calling from. The signal kept bouncing from different locations, making it impossible for me to confirm his position."

"Damn it!" Robin yelled. He slammed his fists down on part of the console, causing Starfire to jump in shock. He was breathing heavily.

"Sorry, man," Cyborg apologized again. He walked forward and placed a hand on Robin's shoulder.

"I don't want sorry," Robin barked. He shrugged out from under Cyborg's hand and rounded accusingly on him. "I wanted to know where he was calling from, and you screwed up."

"Woah, man," Cyborg said, lifting his hands in surrender and taking a few small steps backwards, "I didn't do anything wrong, Slade's just always been that good, and you know it."

"I thought I had some one on my team just as good as him," Robin retorted, crossing his arms and advancing on Cyborg, "but I guess all I've got is a mediocre member of the Geek Squad."

"What did you say-" Cyborg started, his eyes narrowing into slits. But before he could continue his sentence, Starfire had flown to the space between the two boys and placed a palm on each of their chests.

"Please, friends," she said, a slight waver in her voice, "We must not fight with Slade plotting against us. Time is of the utmost importance."

Starfire began looking at Cyborg and Robin in turn to ensure that they were beginning to calm down. Both boys began backing up from Starfire's hands, each mumbling apologies to the other.

Starfire clasped her hands in front of her. She sighed deeply in relief.

"Many thanks, friends," she smiled. Although neither boy made a move to resume their argument, Starfire did not move from her place in the middle of them, strategically continuing to separate them from each other.

Robin turned his back on the rest of the team, staring out of the large bay window. He appeared to be deep in thought. Starfire's face changed from a look of relief to a look of trouble, seemingly remembering what had caused the fight between the boys in the first place. Cyborg turned back to the computer console and began typing again quietly.

Raven and Beast Boy were the furthest away from the other members of the team, and they had been throughout the entirety of the call with Slade. Neither of them had yet to move from their place by the sofa.

Raven turned to look at Beast Boy, ready to question the most outspoken member of the team as to why he did not speak or move during the entire encounter, but her words died in her throat at the sight of the genuine look of confusion on Beast Boy's face. She hadn't noticed during the last few minutes, but Raven was now registering Beast Boy's emotions as they filtered empathically into her.

Raven was unsurprised to find an abundance of confusion pouring off of Beast Boy in waves. What did startle her, however, were the significant amounts of rage and fear that were also present in Beast Boy's emotions.

Raven took a step forward and opened her mouth to say something to Beast Boy, but a look of understanding overcame his features, and he, without glancing at her, strode forward with purpose, leaving Raven behind.

He walked up to Robin by the window and pulled the masked boy from his thoughts, shouting, "I know what Slade is after!"

Robin turned slowly to look at Beast Boy while the other team members walked closer to the two boys, intent on being part of the conversation. Robin sighed and studied Beast Boy skeptically.

"What do you think he's after Beast Boy? He wasn't exactly forthcoming with information."

Robin crossed his arms. Beast Boy took in a deep breath before letting it out slowly. Raven could sense that he was having trouble keeping a lid on his anger.

"He's after Terra, Robin," Beast Boy said through gritted teeth.

"Beast Boy," Robin groaned, "not everything is about Terra! I'm sure he's not going after her."

Beast Boy threw his hands up in the air in exasperation and then ran a hand through his hair.

"I get it, dude, I totally sound obsessive and crazy, but hear me out!"

Robin exchanged weary glances with Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven before glancing back at Beast Boy's concerned face.

"Think about what he said during the call, Robin," Beast Boy said, ticking the examples off on his fingers, "He called you his _second_ favorite apprentice, which means that Terra would be his favorite apprentice. He also said that his plans this time would be earthshattering. _And,_ he said that it would be a walk in the park!"

Beast Boy looked desperately toward each member of his team with his hands outstretched, like they should have connected the dots as easily as he did.

"Beast Boy, what makes you think that just because Slade made an earth pun that he's after Terra?" Robin questioned. His voice was struggling to hide his annoyance. "And what does a walk in the park have to do with anything?"

"Our first date, me and Terra's, was at a theme park. So that was another joke, I guess," Beast Boy shrugged.

Cyborg sighed and said, "Ya know, BB, Slade's an evil mastermind. I don't think he's going to call us and tell us a bunch of jokes and then just hope we understand that he's huntin' down Terra."

"I don't know why he's doing it, guys!" Beast Boy groaned, "But didn't you listen to anything he said? He's totally going after Terra!"

Beast Boy animatedly pointed at the computer screen as if he expected the image of Slade to pop back up and announce, "Yes, Beast Boy is correct, that was a thinly veiled threat towards Terra."

When no such image appeared, Beast Boy lowered his arms and said, "I just know that Slade is too smart to say all those things that would point us to Terra if she wasn't in danger. He even said that he wanted to give us a heads up so that we might actually have a chance to stop him," he pointed out.

"Just because Slade said he wanted us to know what was going to happen doesn't mean that it's true!" Robin yelled.

"Yes, perhaps Slade was doing the messing with our heads," Starfire chimed in.

"Starfire's right," Robin said, nodding in the direction of the alien princess, "Slade always tries to keep us spinning in circles so he can execute whatever he is planning without us getting in the way. This probably isn't any different."

Beast Boy put his head in his hands and sighed deeply.

"Okay, how about this?" Beast Boy said, slowly lowering his hands from his face, "I think Slade is going after Terra because I saw him last night!"

Robin's jaw dropped.

"You what?" he screamed. A vein was pulsing in his neck and he was clearly unhappy that Beast Boy had kept this information from the team. He pointed his index finger accusingly at the green Titan. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I, uh…" Beast Boy paused, rubbing the back of his neck, "saw him last night when I went back to the theme park. It's abandoned now, but I went back there, and I saw him- well, it turned out to be a Slade-bot, but still- in the house of mirrors. He said that I was hurting Terra and that I needed to let her go."

Beast Boy huffed out a defeated breath and whispered, "He also said that she wasn't coming back because she didn't want to see _me_." His voice broke on the last word.

Starfire flew to Beast Boy and put a hand on his shoulder. "Oh, I am most sorry, friend."

Cyborg crossed his arms and said, "Yeah, man, that's tough."

Robin simply shook his head back and forth.

"So you're saying," he began, "that you saw a Slade-bot last night and you didn't think to tell us?"

"I'm sorry, Robin," Beast Boy murmured, "but I couldn't find the right time to tell you with everything that's been happening, like the white monster thingy we had to fight, because I knew you would totally freak out."

Beast Boy perked up a little and said, "But this means that you believe me now, right? If Slade sent a bot to tell me to leave Terra alone, that's gotta mean that he's got something bad planned for her, right?"

He looked at Robin with wide, hopeful eyes.

"You may be right, Beast Boy," Robin conceded with a sigh, "Slade may be plotting something that involves Terra."

Beast Boy pumped a fist in the air. "Yes! I am on a roll today. I totally knew first that Terra was freed from her stony prison, and I also called that Slade's going after her!"

He started dancing around the team, shaking his butt and singing, "Yeah, I'm smart. Go Beast Boy, it's your birthday."

After a few seconds, Cyborg extended his arm and placed a hand on Beast Boy's shoulder, stopping him from continuing his charade. "Uh, in case you forgot, man, those aren't exactly good things that you figured out."

Beast Boy halted his victory dance and rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh, yeah. Thanks, Cy."

He composed himself, walked back to the boy wonder, who appeared to be deep in thought, and said, "Okay, Rob, what's the plan? How are we going to protect her?"

"We definitely need to up our patrols," Robin responded as he began to pace, "and we need to find Slade's hideout as soon as possible. We should round up any and all villains we can find and get any intel they have. We should also start regular surveillances around Terra's home."

After Robin lapsed into silence, Beast Boy eyed him incredulously and blurted out, "Is that _it_?"

Robin stopped pacing. "What more do you want?"

"I don't know, how about something that will actually keep Terra safe?" Beast Boy suggested, the sarcasm deeply evident in his voice.

"How would those precautions not keep her safe?" Robin demanded.

"She spends most of her time at school, Robin," Beast Boy retorted, "so upping patrols in a place where she won't actually be most of the time isn't going to help!"

"We can patrol around the school, too, I suppose, if _you_ think that would help," Robin said, the anger at being challenged seeping into his voice.

"Nah, that won't help because we wouldn't be able keep a good enough eye on her from outside the school, and we wouldn't be able to patrol inside the school without attracting too much attention," Beast Boy mused, oblivious to Robin's attitude.

Suddenly, Beast Boy's head snapped up, a triumphant expression on his face.

"We wouldn't be able to keep an eye on Terra from inside the school without attracting too much attention as _ourselves_ , but it would be no problem if we went undercover!"

Beast Boy's face switched from expectant and excited to disappointed and crestfallen when Robin simply let out an unimpressed, "What?"

"I believe friend Beast Boy is suggesting that someone goes under the cover at Terra's learning institution in order to ensure her safety," Starfire summarized helpfully for Robin.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it Starfire," Robin said as he waved her off, earning a hurt look from the red-haired girl, "but what I don't get is why Beast Boy thinks that sending teammates undercover to a high school could possibly be a good idea when our man power can be better spent elsewhere."

"Yeah, B, I think that idea is a little crazy," Cyborg agreed, "because we don't even know if Slade is after Terra. Right now we're just running on the fact that you think you know what his motives are."

"But we didn't really know what the H.I.V.E. was up to either," Beast Boy argued, "but we sent Cyborg undercover there anyway."

"Those were different circumstances, Beast Boy, and you know it," Robin said, rubbing his forehead.

"We need to do something here, Robin. We can't just leave Terra by herself." Beast Boy's voice was begging at this point.

Robin opened his mouth to argue another issue, but before he could, a monotonous voice interjected, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Beast Boy."

All eyes snapped quickly to Raven, who had been quiet throughout the entirety of the phone call with Slade, and the conversation afterwards. Raven could feel the mix of emotions that her input had caused: surprise, confusion, anger, and elation. Raven could feel the last one most strongly.

Cyborg was the first to speak again. "Raven, are you serious?"

"Of course, I'm serious," Raven responded, walking forward to stand next to Beast Boy. Now the two of them were standing side by side facing the other three Titans, who were all looking at them skeptically.

"Yes, I understand that this may be taking things a little far," Raven continued, "but at this point, this is the best lead we have on Slade. By placing someone undercover at the school, we can simultaneously monitor Terra while gaining any intel we can. The rest of the team can remain here in the tower to run patrols. There should even be fewer alarms because most of the villains we usually face were taken care of in Paris when we defeated the Brotherhood of Evil."

"Yeah," Beast Boy added, "and after everything she did for us last time, like saving us from _dying_ and turning into _stone_ for us, I think we owe her."

Raven disagreed with his statement about owing Terra anything but decided not to comment on that.

Instead she said, "And we can't forget that last time we weren't as vigilant as possible when it came to Terra, Slade turned her against us. It was nearly fatal for all of us."

She glanced at all of her teammates in turn, her eyes lingering for just a second longer on Beast Boy.

Cyborg and Starfire seemed to be warring with themselves on what to think, judging by the expressions of their faces. Beast Boy seemed to be happy that someone was agreeing with him and taking his side.

Robin looked unconvinced.

Raven tried one last time. "Robin, we need someone to be monitoring Terra. We currently have no idea where Slade is, or what the full extent of his plan is, but if it has anything to do with Terra, we need to find out sooner rather than later. Because if we don't, and she becomes his apprentice again, I don't think we'll be lucky enough to make it out alive this time."

Raven heard Beast Boy gasp from beside her and she felt a surge of sadness and disbelief push at her senses. She ignored it.

"Raven," Robin started, shaking his head, "you really think this is what we should do?"

"I know a good strategy isn't something that would normally be within Beast Boy's mental capacity," Raven deadpanned, "but at this point, I do believe that it is our best idea."

Beast Boy shot the empath a half-hearted glare.

Robin crossed his arms and continued to shake his head.

"Hey, man," Cyborg said to Robin, "I'm starting to think they're right, too. And if nothing comes of it in a couple of weeks, we can pull the plug on the mission. But right now, we got nothing to lose."

"Yes, friend Robin," Starfire said, placing a hand on one of his crossed forearms, "I, too, believe this is a glorious strategy that can enable us to gain insight on Slade's plan and help to put an end to his treachery. I am on the board."

No one corrected Starfire to tell her that the phrase was simply "I am on board." Everyone was just waiting with bated breath for Robin's response.

Finally, he sighed. "I suppose you're all right. We don't really have another plan, and it's possible that whatever Slade has planned has to do with Terra, so we need to be prepared for that."

"We will be sending two team members undercover as high school students at Murakami for two weeks to monitor Terra and look for any suspicious activity," Robin decided. "If, after that time, there are no new leads, we will bring them back, regroup, and create a new strategy."

The other four Titans nodded at their leader.

"Cyborg, Raven," Robin pointed at the two, "you'll be our undercover agents."

"What?! But it was my idea!" Beast Boy yelled, jabbing a thumb at himself.

"I know that, Beast Boy," Robin assured him, "but Cyborg has already been undercover before and knows what to expect and Raven can protect a large number of high school students with a shield if anything were to go wrong."

"You, on the other hand," he continued, "are very emotionally invested in anything that has to do with Terra, and because of that, I'm not sure you can remain focused on the mission."

"Sure I can!" Beast Boy disagreed, vigorously shaking his head. "I can be totally focused on the mission."

"What about earlier today?" Robin questioned harshly. "What about when we were fighting the white monster and you were off with Terra instead of focusing on defeating whatever that thing was?"

"I… I was…" Beast Boy floundered to find the right words to say for a few seconds before he snapped his fingers. "I was already focused on the mission!"

"Friend, perhaps you can provide the elaboration?" Starfire inquired after a second of silence. A confused expression was on her face and she was twiddling her thumbs. "We are all aware that you were not with us on the mission and therefore were unlikely to be focused on the task."

"I was focused on the mission before there was even a mission to focus on." Beast Boy responded. "I wasn't with you guys, that's true, but I was keeping an eye on Terra, which makes me perfect for going undercover and continuing to watch her."

"As convoluted as that may be," Cyborg said, rubbing a hand over his head, "I think it makes sense. This mission is contingent upon the idea that whoever is undercover is vigilantly watching Terra, and BB's already proved he can do that."

Robin appeared uncertain. When he opened his mouth again, Beast Boy interrupted with, "Look, Robin, I know Terra better than any of you. Well, I did, anyway, when she was alive before. And if she's still the same person like I think she is, I'll still know her better than the rest of you. I'll be able to see if anything's off about her or something."

Beast Boy sighed, his shoulders drooped, and he lowered his head. "Just give me a chance, Robin. Please."

Robin pursed his lips. "Fine, Beast Boy," he eventually answered, causing the green boy to raise his head in surprise, "you and Raven will be our two undercover agents at the school."

Robin immediately snapped back into his leadership role, laying out plans. "We will have a team meeting exactly two hours from now in the conference room to figure out some of the more specific points of this mission. In the meantime, Cyborg should rework the holographic rings he has to make sure they match Raven and Beast Boy's physiology and can disguise them correctly."

Cyborg nodding in understanding.

Robin strode towards the common room doors and called over his shoulder, "Okay, Titans, let's get ready. I'll be in my evidence room if anyone needs me."

The doors swished shut behind him, leaving the other four Titans in silence with their thoughts.

* * *

About an hour and a half later, Raven was in her room staring in frustration at her suitcase. She had already packed what little she could. She knew she would need quite a few different civilian outfits if he expected to survive high school without some mean girls making fun of her on a daily basis. That would draw too much attention to her.

She had just gotten back from Cyborg's workshop where he ran numerous tests on her to determine how to best adapt the hologram ring to her half-demon physiology. He hadn't told her much while she was in there, but she could sense abnormal amounts of frustration roll off of him in waves, so she figured it wasn't going according to plan.

She then went back to her room, where she began to assemble anything she could think of to take on her mission with her. As she was packing the last pair of jeans she owned, she realized she would need much more than what she currently had. She shuddered as the reality of this hit her full force: she would need to make a trip to the mall with Starfire.

Raven closed the open suitcase on her bed and levitated it into a corner where it would not be in her way. She would have to return to it when she had more clothes to completely fill it.

As Raven pondered what other supplies she hadn't packed yet that she would need, she heard a knock on her door. It was timid and soft. She extended her empathic senses to determine who was at the door, but she already had a pretty good guess.

"Come in Beast Boy," she called loud enough for him to hear while she simultaneously unlocked the door with her powers.

He hesitated for a second before opening the door and walking in, but when he did, Raven could feel his anxiety spike tenfold. She knew he found her room creepy and dark, but she also knew that the interior of her bedroom was not the only thing making him uneasy.

Raven studied Beast Boy carefully as he took calculated steps into her room, stopping once he reached the center. Raven flicked her hand and allowed the door to close, further submerging the room in darkness. Beast Boy glanced around nervously.

"Are you sure it's okay if I'm in your room, Rae?" he asked. Despite the worry Raven could feel coming from him, his voice was calm and controlled.

"Yes, of course it's fine," Raven drawled. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "And my name is Raven, not Rae."

She levitated over to her bed where she began floating just above the mattress in her lotus position. She and Beast Boy were nearly eye level, about six feet apart, and they were facing one another.

Raven arched an eyebrow at him. "Is there something you needed, Beast Boy?"

He shifted his feet uncomfortably and clasped his hands in front of him. "Yeah, I wanted to come apologize for earlier."

That nearly took her by surprise. "Apologize for what?"

Beast Boy refused to meet her gaze. "You know, for earlier. When I yelled at you. It was mean, and I shouldn't have done it."

He sighed and moved from the center of the room where he was awkwardly standing. He walked to the wall on the side of her room and began inspecting some photographs she had hanging. He still didn't face her.

"I called you selfish, Raven. That was pretty terrible of me, and I'm sorry. I don't think you're selfish. I think you're self _less_ , in fact. And…"

He sighed again but turned to face her this time. He leaned his back against her wall, which slightly annoyed her. Was it too difficult to stand up straight?

"And… I'm just sorry." He finished his apology by giving her a small, sheepish smile.

Raven dismissively waved her hand at him. "It's fine, Beast Boy."

When he looked slightly disappointed at her response, she added, "I appreciate it, and I accept your apology."

His smiled widened at her and she felt compelled to tell him, "But, you know, there would be no need to apologize if you had just controlled your temper in the first place."

Beast Boy was unperturbed by her statement. He chuckled and responded, "I think calm and controlled is more your style."

Raven nodded. She noted how much more easygoing Beast Boy's emotions were since he first came into her room.

"Well, anyway, Raven," Beast Boy said as he pushed off of the wall, "that's all I wanted. Guess I'll see you at the team meeting."

He waved at her before walking toward the door.

"Beast Boy?" she called to him before he reached the door.

He turned and looked at her with his eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah?"

She thought about asking him why his emotions had flickered out earlier. Why could she feel them one minute and then the next, it was like she was no longer an empath? She thought about how Beast Boy's emotions began cutting in and out and it had been like some sort of static was interfering with her powers.

She could see that he was seething in front of her, but she couldn't feel his emotions at all. She remembered how his usually unnaturally bright green, happy eyes were fierce and angry, but her powers didn't register that at all.

She opened her mouth to ask, but at the last second she decided to do some research herself before involving Beast Boy in whatever was going on.

"Never mind. I'll see you at the team meeting." Raven closed her eyes and began reciting her mantra, cutting off any opportunity for furthering the conversation.

"Okay, Rae. I'll let you meditate. See ya."

Raven waited until she heard the door shut behind Beast Boy before she fully immersed herself in her meditation.

* * *

A little while later when Raven walked into the conference room, Robin as sitting at the head of the large table in his usual seat furiously scribbling in a yellow legal pad. He was the only other person in the room. He looked up at her as she entered and put his pen down.

"You're here early," he commented.

Raven simply shrugged as she took her regular seat to Robin's immediate left.

"Robin," she started, placing both hands palm down on the table in front of her, "are you sure it's a good idea to send me undercover to the high school?"

Robin cocked his head to the side as he said, "I do think it's a good idea. Why?"

"I might not be as qualified for this as someone else on the team." Raven's face was expressionless.

"Well, I can't exactly send myself because I have to remain here and oversee all of the operations. And we can't send Starfire because the way she speaks would attract too much attention to her within about thirteen seconds."

Robin's attempt at levity fell flat, and Raven's face remained unchanged.

"But more than that," he continued after clearing his throat, "when you think about it, you're one of the only logical people to send. As I said before, you can protect a large number of students from an attack with a shield if it should come to that. And you can also teleport people away from the school if there's any danger."

"And," he sighed, "I think it's important to have someone there to be able to watch Terra for any suspicious activity. Beast Boy certainly won't want to do it, and the rest of us didn't recognize that Terra was evil last time until it was too late."

"You still have some trust issues with her, Raven, and I know you'll be cautious. We're not sure if she's working as Slade's apprentice again, or if she's just an unsuspecting party in whatever he's planning. But until we figure out what's going on, someone has to watch her carefully. That someone should be you."

Raven nodded. She knew that made sense. She was thankful that Robin didn't beat around the bush. The point of the mission was to simultaneously keep Terra safe and to keep her from linking up with Slade again and endangering the city. If there were two people who could do that, they were her and Beast Boy.

"Fine. I can do it. But how will I be able to keep my powers from acting up? There are a lot of strong emotions floating around a high school, I'd imagine. How could do my job if I'm exhausted from empathically dealing with high school emotions all of the time?"

Robin opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, Cyborg strode in and said, "I think I can take care of that."

He took his seat diagonally from Raven and opened his hand, revealing one of the holographic rings in his palm.

"Now, it's not done yet," he told them, "but by the time I'm finished, it should be able to decrease your powers significantly. You'll be able to use them while wearing the ring, but they won't be as powerful as they are now, which means you'll be able to feel the emotions around you, but they won't affect you like they do now."

Before Raven or Robin could ask any questions, Starfire flew into the room with Beast Boy following closely behind her. They sat in their respective seats.

With everyone looking at him expectantly, Robin stood up and looked around the table at each member of his team. He took a deep breath and began outlining the plan that he hoped would bring down Slade once and for all.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for so much dialogue in this chapter, but they needed to figure out what Slade was planning and how to handle it, and we all know that Robin often takes quite a bit of convincing. Also, it's nice that Raven and Beast Boy are friends again! Maybe it'll be smooth sailing for them from now on. (But, spoiler: it won't be. Sorry!)

Furthermore, the "Geek Squad" is a reference to Best Buy and therefore not my idea. But I did find it funny and applicable and I used it. So, thanks Best Buy!

Next chapter: the rest of the mission details will be laid out and Beast Boy and Raven get ready for their first day of high school.

Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3: Preparations

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans.

* * *

As Robin spoke, he looked around the long table at his team. Raven and Beast Boy were on his left and Starfire and Cyborg were on his right.

"All right, Titans," Robin said authoritatively, "we have reason to believe that Slade is going to try to harm Terra. In order to prevent this from happening, we're going to send Raven and Beast Boy undercover at Murakami High School. They, as our undercover agents, will determine whether there is actually a threat to Terra and, if there is a threat, whether Terra is aware of or liable in what is happening."

Robin paused, glancing around the table for understanding. He noted that Beast Boy winced as he mentioned Terra's potential culpability, but the other three team members were all nodding at him, so he continued.

"However, with that being said," Robin leaned forward and placed his palms on the table in front of him, "we remain unsure if there is actually a threat to Terra. So we are risking a lot by sending two of out teammates into a mission that might not pan out. But, I know we all have a strong feeling that Terra is part of whatever Slade is planning. Therefore, they will be undercover for two weeks. If, at that point, there are no new leads linking Terra to Slade, we'll bring you guys back," Robin nodded towards Raven and Beast Boy, "then we'll regroup and rethink our plan."

Robin sighed and turned to fully face his two new agents. "Beast Boy. Raven. I know there's been a little bit of concern surrounding putting you both in the field. If there's any reason why either of you would be uncomfortable in this position and need to be switched out, I need you to tell me now."

Raven could feel Beast Boy's emotions become indignant. "Look, Robin," Beast Boy huffed, "I know that you don't think I can do this, but come on, dude! I was in the Doom Patrol for a while, and I went on plenty of missions with them, some even undercover. I can totally do this. And, more than that, I'll have Raven there to keep me in check."

Beast Boy's voice dropped down to a whisper. "I know you all think that I'm a screw up most of the time. But this is my time to show you that I'm just as valuable as everyone else on this team, and I won't screw this up. Promise."

Robin pursed his lips and crossed his arms at the changeling. "You're right, Beast Boy. You can do this. We all believe in you."

He turned to the violet-haired girl. "Raven?" Robin asked, "Is there any reason that I would need to swap you with Cyborg or Starfire in the field? Are you sure you can do this?"

"Yes, Robin. I can do this," was all Raven answered, her monotonous voice loud in the quiet room.

"Okay, we have that settled," Robin agreed. He sat back down. "Cyborg, can you tell us about the holographic rings?"

"Yeah, man," Cyborg answered. He had one ring in the palm of his hand that he set on the table in front of him. He pulled a second ring from a compartment in his forearm and set it next to the first one. "Okay, I've made a ring for both of you. You'll both only need one ring because you're only going to need one disguise: a basic human look."

"BB's ring," Cyborg said as he held up the small circle, "is much simpler than Raven's, just because all his has to do is disguise him. His ring's programed in accordance with his measurements and should provide the right disguise for him. His ring is almost done, but I'll just need to make a few more adjustments and then have him to try it on and make sure everything looks good."

"Raven's ring on the other hand," he continued, "is much more difficult to manage because I have to adapt it to her powers. I'm not done with this one yet, but now that I have a plan, I think it should be easy to finish it. We know that Raven's powers are dictated by _her_ emotions, _and_ the emotions of those around her. This could potentially be dangerous if she's in a high school, 'cause we all know high schoolers are horny little monsters that would probably make poor Raven blow the whole place up."

Beast Boy and Cyborg both snickered, while Robin and Raven remained unamused. When Starfire opened her mouth to presumably ask what the word "horny" meant, Cyborg quickly continued his explanation.

"Anyway," he cleared his throat, "Raven and I have been working together for a while now- like a couple months- to better figure out how her powers work. Well, what we found is that Raven has an extra structure in her brain, right next to her amygdala, which I found out was partially responsible for controlling her own emotions, as well as completely responsible for her empathic powers."

Beast Boy, Starfire, and Robin all turned interestedly towards Raven, shooting her curious glances.

"Yes," Raven drawled, "I have an extra structure in my brain. But this shouldn't be anything of interest considering Beast Boy has no brain at all and yet somehow still functions."

Raven motioned for Cyborg to resume as Beast Boy rolled his eyes at her.

"So, as I was running tests on Raven this afternoon," Cyborg explained, "I saw that the structure operates on a much higher frequency than the rest of her brain, or any human brain for that matter. But then I was getting frustrated because I couldn't figure out how to stop the stimulation of that structure until I realized that Raven slows the frequency all the time herself by meditating!"

Cyborg became visibly excited, leaned closer to his teammates, and started speaking faster. "By meditating, Raven can bring the frequency of the unknown part of her brain down to a normal frequency. And when the frequency is lower, she has better control of her powers because her brain doesn't allow a lot of emotions to empathically filter in."

Cyborg went on to explain that he should be able to make the holographic ring continuously emit a lower frequency, that, as long as Raven is wearing the ring, would be able to train the unnamed structure in her brain to operate at a normal human frequency. This would make the structure work slower, drastically cutting down the amount of emotions she could empathically feel.

Cyborg finished his long description by telling them, "Once I make Raven's hologram ring emit a lower, more normal frequency, her empathic powers will only work about half as well!"

Cyborg was clearly proud of himself as be smiled broadly at them and leaned back in his seat. Raven scanned the other members of her team for understanding and approval. When she saw the glazed look on Beast Boy's face and the drool on the corner of his mouth, she smacked him on the back of his head. He sheepishly began rubbing the bump on his skull, glancing around to see if anyone else had noticed that he had mentally checked out of the conversation.

"So, you're saying," Robin clarified, ignoring the two Titans to his left, "that if Raven wears this ring, she won't be able to empathically feel emotions as well? Will she still be able to comprehend her own emotions?"

"Correct to the first question," Cyborg answered, "her empathic powers will be hindered. But, because other parts of her brain control her own emotions- not just this unnamed part- she will still be able to comprehend, process, and feel her own emotions just as well as she did before."

"Which means," Raven cut in, "that as long as I control my own emotions as well as I do now, my powers will remain in my control. The students' emotions will not be able to unexpectedly influence my powers. And, this ring also will not affect any of my other powers, like my telekinesis."

"Thank you, Cyborg," Raven continued as she nodded in the cybernetic man's direction, "this invention should really help me to keep my powers under control."

"Yes, friend Cyborg," Starfire added as she patted his forearm, "this device appears to be most glorious. I admire you for creating it."

"Thanks, Raven and Star," he smiled at the two girls, "but like I said, the ring isn't done yet. So I'll finish it tomorrow or the day after, and then y'all should be good to go to school from my end."

Robin nodded. "Well, that takes care of the disguises. Now, to more business. I haven't taken care of your living arrangements for the next two weeks yet, but there is a hotel across the street from Terra's apartment building, and it's about three blocks from the school. I'll book a room in that hotel, so that you can monitor Terra while school isn't in session."

"Furthermore, you'll both need to continue to run patrols and make public appearances while you are undercover. We can't risk anyone figuring out that neither of you are in the tower because it would compromise the mission."

Everyone nodded in agreement and Robin asked, "Is there anything else that either of you need before you begin the mission?"

"I'll need some more civilian clothes that won't draw attention to me because I don't have many as is." Raven responded. She sighed as she said, "Which means I will need to go to the mall for-"

"Eek!" Starfire squealed while she flew out of her seat into the air, effectively interrupting Raven's sentence. "I am most ecstatic that you must journey to the mall of shopping! We need to purchase the clothes so that you may appear like a proper high school girl on your first day. Let us go now!"

Starfire flew over the table, grabbed the gray girl's hand before she could protest, and dragged her out of the conference room, leaving the three boys startled in their wake.

Robin simply blinked at the two other male Titans. "Uh… I guess this meeting is over for now."

* * *

When Raven and Starfire arrived at the mall the redhead had pulled her friend into nearly every store. Starfire had treated Raven as if she were a dress-up doll, picking out clothes that were definitely _not_ Raven's style, shoving them in her arms, and pushing her into the fitting room. When they had exhausted all of the options in any particular store, they moved on to the next one.

Raven had put her foot down on some of Starfire's more outrageous clothing selections, including mini-skirts, thigh high boots, sleeveless tops, and anything in the dreaded color of pink. After the ninth store, Raven had purchased four new pairs of jeans, a light jacket, a conservative yet feminine skirt, three pairs of shoes, and five shirts. All of the items were in neutral colors.

The only piece of clothing Raven hesitated on a was a white, long sleeved shirt that pulled a little too tightly across her chest for her taste. Starfire assured her that it was beautiful on her and made her look like what Cyborg and Beast Boy referred to as "the babe." When Raven had finished blushing, she figured that it couldn't hurt and purchased the shirt anyway.

The tenth store they visited was a school supply store where Raven bought a few essential school supplies, including some extra supplies for Beast Boy, who she guessed would be underprepared for the school-oriented part of their mission.

Finally, as Starfire began directing them into their eleventh store, Raven had decided that she could take no more, and suggested they go to the food court instead. Starfire had become slightly crestfallen but had complied on account of her nine rumbling stomachs.

As the girls sat down with their trays of food in front of them, Raven took a moment to rub gently on her temples. The emotions from all of the shoppers in the crowded mall were seeping into her mind and giving her a headache. She briefly wished that she were wearing Cyborg's new holographic ring now so that she wouldn't have to deal with the full force of her powers.

Clearing her mind, Raven attempted to block the unwanted emotions out as she opened her eyes and glanced at Starfire, who was quickly devouring her meal of two cheeseburgers with french fries, all drenched in mustard. Raven picked up her fork and poked at her salad.

Starfire swallowed her mouthful of food and said, "The outfits we have picked for your high school experience are most glorious. Would you not agree?"

"Yes," Raven nodded, eyes plastered to her fork, "they're very nice."

"Are you excited for the mission, friend?" Starfire pressed, setting down her half-eaten burger.

"I've already received a high school level education, Starfire, you know that." Raven hedged. "I was educated by the monks on Azarath, and then taught further by the tutor Robin hired when we formed the team."

"Yes, I am aware," Starfire answered as she crinkled her nose. She remembered very well that Robin had demanded that they all receive their GEDs after forming the Teen Titans. He told them that a quality education would pay off in the long run and had hired a tutor to teach them the basics.

Starfire had been extremely frustrated with this because she and the tutor had butted heads more than once on the subject of English. She believed she spoke just fine and the tutor disagreed. Eventually, after a little persuasion from Robin, the tutor had cleared Starfire on all subjects, including English, and she had received her GED. She had been the last one on the team to do so, much to Beast Boy's elation, and Starfire's chagrin.

Shaking her head clear of the memory, Starfire tried again. "I understand you are well versed in the matters of the school student. However, I was inquiring on your level of excitement regarding performing the mission, not attending the high school."

Raven bit back a sigh, and simply said, "It's just a mission. One that I will complete to the best of my ability, and I'm neither excited nor disappointed by it."

"I am sure you will complete the mission well," Starfire said, her tone clipped. Starfire thought for a moment and then asked another question that she was interested in hearing the answer to.

"Will it do the annoying of you to be on the mission with friend Beast Boy?" Starfire asked as innocently as possible.

"I'm sure it will be fine," Raven answered with an edge to her voice.

Starfire waited patiently for Raven to elaborate, but it soon became apparent that the goth girl had no intentions of doing so.

Starfire looked perturbed by the lack of information Raven was giving her. Raven could feel the annoyance rolling off of Starfire, too, which was a rare emotion for the girl. Starfire always wanted to partake in the "girl talk" with Raven, which was out of the sorceress's comfort zone. Therefore, like usual, Starfire wanted to understand how Raven was feeling, and Raven remained closed off, much to Starfire's disappointment.

After a moment, the emotion ebbed away, and Starfire's face returned to its normal perky expression. She reached across the table and lightly patted Raven's hand once before standing.

"It is the okay, friend." Starfire smiled down at her. "You do not have to partake in the sharing if you do not wish."

She hovered over to the trash can and threw away her garbage before coming back to the table and picking up a few of Raven's shopping bags.

"It is getting late," Starfire remarked, looking at the large clock on the wall of the food court, "and while this trip to the mall of shopping with you had been most enjoyable, I believe we must return to the tower now."

Raven nodded, levitating her nearly untouched salad into the nearby trash can. As she stood, she picked up the rest of her bags and together the two girls walked in comfortable silence towards the exit.

The flight back to the tower had been relatively quiet, and when they landed on the roof, Starfire wished Raven a good night and left her to her own devices. As Raven carried her bags to her room and began to pack her newly bought things in her suitcases, she couldn't help but feel slightly guilty at the way she had brushed Starfire off while at the mall. Starfire had just been trying to make conversation and discuss the mission with her, and she didn't humor her at all.

Part of the reason for that was because there were so many people in the mall whose emotions were constantly seeping into Raven's mind. It was always hard to concentrate with so many emotions floating around that Raven was responsible for blocking out, lest she accidentally blow up the mall.

However, the other part of her simply didn't want to confess her true feelings to Starfire. Raven knew that she was being selfish, but she just didn't think Starfire would understand her reservations with this mission.

She just wasn't the high school type. She had never fit in with kids at any point in her life and she certainly wouldn't fit in with a bunch of high school kids now.

* * *

Over the course of the next few days, Robin had been furiously trying to get everything into place for the mission, and everyone tried to stay put of his way. He had called Raven or Beast Boy into his office a few times to discuss code names and other things, but mostly he was doing everything himself.

Raven and Beast Boy had also met a few times with Cyborg to solidify the workings of the holographic rings and to work on another invention that Cyborg thought was necessary.

Even Starfire was fast at work with something on the mainframe computer. Any time another Titan walked into the common room, Starfire would be hard at work typing away.

When Sunday finally came around, the day that Raven and Beast Boy were leaving for the mission, Robin had sent out a message over the communicators that said the team would be having a meeting in the common room later that night to discuss last minute details. For most of the day, the tower was quiet as everyone worked to finalize everything, but the buzz of anticipation was prominent in the air.

A little while before she and Beast Boy were scheduled to leave, Raven was meticulously checking over everything she had packed while also racking her brain for anything else she may have missed. When she was pleased, she shut her suitcase with a satisfying click. She grabbed both of her small suitcases, slung her mostly empty new backpack over her shoulder, and headed for the door.

On the way out, as she began to pass one of her bookcases, she paused, looking at the titles. She had been recently interested in how Beast Boy could prevent her powers from sensing his emotions, and she hadn't had time to do any research on a potential cause over the last day or so. She knew she could just ask him how he was able to block her powers, but she wasn't sure he would be completely truthful with her.

Her hand hovered over a few books containing information on empathic powers and their effects on mortals, before her curiosity got the better of her and she carefully removed three books from the shelf and placed them in her backpack.

Raven stepped out of her bedroom and spun around, taking one last look inside. She assumed the mission would be quick and easy. They would gain knowledge of whatever Slade was planning, then Robin would create a plan for a counter-attack and the hard part of taking down Slade would begin. Raven was sure that the mission at the high school, though undesirable, would not be too difficult.

Logically, she knew that even if they found a lead that extended the length of the mission, it shouldn't take up too much time. Therefore, Raven figured that she would be back in the tower within a few weeks. But she had always been a homebody, and she couldn't shake the feeling that it would be a long time before she saw the solitude of bedroom again.

* * *

A/N: Hi, all! I hope you liked this chapter. I am SO sorry that it took so long to get this out, but this chapter just _did not_ want to be written, so I had to wait until I was happy with it before I could publish, and I had a multitude of other things getting in my way. I hope you guys understand! **BUT,** this chapter was originally over double the size, but it just became too long, so I divided it. Which means the second half will be coming tomorrow or the day after once I'm finished with editing! So be on the lookout for that.

I also saw "Teen Titans Go! To the Movies" recently, and I honestly loved it! And the end credits scene with the original Teen Titans was so exciting. I can't wait to see what they do with that. So if you guys haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend that you do!

I obviously took some liberties in this chapter, especially with describing how Raven's powers work and how they can be controlled. I hope I explained it well enough for everyone to understand. If not, feel free to review or PM me with questions, and I will respond! I'm not even sure if any of this is remotely scientifically accurate, but this is all fiction anyway, so for today, this is how science works!

Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4: The High School Type

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

When Raven arrived in the common room, Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire were already there chatting quietly. As she stepped in to the room, their heads snapped up to her, and she looked back at them passively. She stole a glance at the clock, and noticed that it was exactly 8:00 PM, the time they were all supposed to be in the common room for a meeting.

Raven walked toward the rest of her team and placed her suitcases and backpack together neatly on the floor. She straightened up just as the doors swished open again and Beast Boy walked in, slightly frazzled.

He dropped his duffel bag and backpack off in a heap next to Raven's things and leaned against the back of the couch, looking around expectantly for someone else to begin speaking.

"So, Starfire, Cyborg, and I have been talking," Robin began without preamble, "about some of the logistics of this plan."

He motioned for the team to come around the couch and sit down while he spoke. After everyone had taken their seats, he continued.

"As I've mentioned, the main focus of your mission is to shadow Terra during school hours and outside of school, as well." Raven and Beast Boy both nodded in understanding as he handed both of them a piece of paper with explicit details of what he was saying for them to be able to refer back to later.

"You will monitor her and those around her for any sign that Slade might be trying to get close to her of harm her in any way. Cyborg, Starfire, and I," Robin added, indicating himself and his two other teammates, "will be monitoring your progress from the tower, and we will also be on the lookout for Slade throughout the city."

"Starfire," he smiled warmly at the alien, "has hacked into the cameras of the school so we can continuously keep an eye on you both as well as Terra."

Robin rocked back on his heels and crossed his arms. "Over the past couple of days, as you know, I've been working on completing your undercover names. Beast Boy will be going the name Garfield Marks while undercover."

Robin went on to explain, with Beast Boy's permission, that he chose the name Garfield because it was his real name, and Marks to honor his late father, Mark Logan. Beast Boy had originally wanted to use his given name, Garfield Logan, as his undercover name but Robin was worried that, should this mission go south, it might compromise Beast Boy's real identity and he didn't want to risk it.

Robin paused to hand Beast Boy a copy of a driver's license with his new name on it and a picture that Cyborg had photoshopped a few days ago when the holo-rings were unfinished. He had simply taken their current driver' license photos and altered them slightly to what he assumed they would each look like after the holographic rings were on them.

"And Raven will go by the name Rachel Roth," Robin continued, "because I believed using the name Raven would draw too much attention to her."

Raven looked down at the ID card and silently thanked Robin for not disclosing the real reason she had chosen her code name.

While it was true that Robin was worried that if she kept the name Raven, it would draw too much attention to their mission, it was also true that he had allowed her to create her own code name. She had confided in him that she picked the name Rachel because she had always liked it and chose the surname Roth because it was her mother's maiden name.

While it wasn't a big secret why she had chosen the names she had, she preferred that her motivations not be disclosed to the other Titans because she was worried they might begin to ask questions about her past that she didn't want to answer. They, of course, knew about her father, but they didn't know much of anything about her mother and she preferred to keep it that way.

Next, Robin handed everyone three more pieces of paper.

"There you each have a copy of Raven, Beast Boy, and Terra's school schedules. Raven and Beast Boy, now you'll know where the other is during the school day, and also where Terra is. Starfire and Cyborg, you have copies so that you can also know where everyone is in case of an emergency."

Raven quickly scanned the schedules and found that Beast Boy shared first and second period with Terra. Raven was in the same class with the blonde girl for third, fifth, and sixth period. During fourth and seventh periods, they were both in class with Terra.

"You will also be performing patrols," Robin continued, drawing Raven's attention from the schedules, "and making public appearances as Titans like I mentioned, to keep people off our tracks."

Once again, the two partners on the mission nodded their heads in understanding. Though she would never say it to his face, Raven silently praised Beast Boy for being quiet and professional throughout this meeting. It wasn't like him to be so focused and not cracking jokes.

"As you both know," Robin said, "this mission will last two weeks, or, if we find a new lead, that time may be shortened or extended based on necessity. And, as far as I'm concerned, that's all the information you need right now. I'll be feeding you more mission-specific information through your communicators after you've arrived on location."

"Cyborg," Robin nodded toward the cybernetic man, "it may be a good time to give them their holographic rings."

"Sure, man," Cyborg replied as he stood up.

Raven stood up as well, with Beast Boy following suit, and the three of them walked to the back of the couch where there was more room. Robin and Starfire followed behind. Raven grabbed a mirror from her bag as she walked by so that she could examine her new appearance when she put on the ring.

Cyborg opened a compartment on his arm and pulled out two small rings. He handed one to Raven and one to Beast Boy. The two looked at each other and took a deep breath as they simultaneously slid them on to their right hands.

Instantly, Beast Boy and Raven were gone, and in their places were Garfield Marks and Rachel Roth.

Raven held the mirror up to her face and found someone she didn't recognize staring back at her. She was wearing her leotard and cape, but she didn't look like herself anymore. Her grey skin had been replaced by pale white skin. Her chakra stone was nowhere to be found on her forehead. Her violet hair was now a very dark brown, almost black color. Her hair had also grown. It was down a few inches past her collarbones now.

The only thing Raven could find that still looked like herself were her eyes. Her eyes were the amethyst color they had always been.

After a few more seconds, Raven lowered the mirror and was once again dumbstruck at the sight before her. She marveled at how Beast Boy looked the same and yet, at the same time, immensely different. He was still dressed in his standard uniform, but he appeared to be a completely different person.

Gone was the green color of his skin, and in its place was a sun-kissed tan. His green hair was now a dirty blond color but was styled the same as before. His pointed ears were now rounded, and his fanged canines were shrunk to a normal size.

The bone structure in his face was unchanged and still made him look like Beast Boy if Raven stared hard enough, but the other changes to his appearance made him look different enough that he looked like a new person.

Raven was surprised that she was comforted by his eyes. Though the rest of him didn't look much like the Beast Boy that she knew, his eyes remained unchanged, just like her own had after her transformation. His eyes were the same bright, vibrant green that she had grown fond of over the years.

There was something very strange about his new look though that Raven couldn't exactly pinpoint until Starfire asked, "Has friend Beast Boy grown in height?"

After Starfire had asked the question, Raven realized that she was right; Beast Boy had grown about four inches and was now taller than she was by an inch or two.

As Raven could have guessed, she began to feel embarrassment roll off of Beast Boy, but, much to her surprise, the emotion was very dull compared to how she would normally perceive it. Raven could not believe that Cyborg's invention was working so well.

Beast Boy began sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck as he said, "Well, Star, I kinda asked Cy to make me appear a little taller so that I could fit in with the high school guys. 'Cause they're generally taller than me and I don't need to stick out when the point of the mission is to lay low."

Starfire floated to him and patted him on the back. "The modification in your height makes you appear extremely handsome, friend," she admired.

Beast Boy chuckled awkwardly and thanked her quietly.

"Yeah," Cyborg added with a laugh, "I'm sure the fact that it'll help him with the ladies wasn't a motivating factor at all!"

As Beast Boy's newly tanned face turned a deep red shade, Cyborg said, "Aww, I'm just yanking your chain, grass stain."

"Anyway," Cyborg said, as he became more serious, "as you'll notice, the rings have changed only the things about both of you that wouldn't be normal if y'all were ordinary humans, like your skin colors. I've left your eyes the same color 'cause I thought y'all might like to look in the mirror and see somethin' familiar, and you can always were contacts if you want. But if either of you have a problem with how the ring is programmed to make you look right now, let me know and I'll change it before you go."

When Raven and Beast Boy both shook their heads, Cyborg said, "All right, that makes it easy for me. And now I have just one more surprise for y'all."

He opened another compartment on his body and pulled out two necklaces. They were both simple, silver chains. Again, he handed one to each of them. Puzzled, Raven and Beast Boy examined the necklaces for a moment before slipping them over their heads.

When nothing physically changed on either of them, Beast Boy asked, "What was that supposed to-" but he quickly stopped talking and clapped a hand over his mouth.

Cyborg smirked as Starfire and Robin gasped.

"Woah, dude!" Beast Boy spoke again, moving his hand to touch his throat, "My voice is deeper. Cool!"

As he had said, Beast Boy's voice was about an octave deeper than it had been previously and he looked absolutely ecstatic by this revelation.

"I thought you'd like that," Cyborg said, the smile evident in his voice. "But more importantly, it'll prevent anyone from identifying y'all based on your voices, which are pretty recognizable around this town."

"That was good thinking, Cyborg," Raven commented.

Everyone turned to openly gape at her after she spoke. Raven kept her face passive, but she felt like gaping, too. Her voice was higher, not deep, and light, not gravelly. It sounded nothing like her.

"It's not that big of a deal," Raven mumbled to her teammates in her foreign voice.

"Uh, right," Cyborg cleared his throat, "well, that's all I have for y'all."

Robin stepped towards them again. "I made a few phone calls," he said, "and the owner of the hotel across from Terra's apartment complex owes us a few favors, so I told him I needed to discreetly house a few key witnesses in a case for a couple of weeks."

"He has assured me that no one will bother your room," Robin continued, "and he also doesn't know the people occupying the room will be you two. But don't worry about payment, because I'll be taking care of that from here at the tower."

Robin pulled two standard hotel room keys out of his utility belt and handed one to each of them before he thought better of it and put both of them in Raven's hand.

"Yeah," Beast Boy said sheepishly, "giving them to Raven is probably a good idea. I'll lose mine."

Raven pocketed the cards with a roll of her eyes as Robin glanced at the clock.

"One last thing," he said as he picked a small bag off of the ground near the couch, "this contains some gadgets and devices you may need while on the mission, but they're all _very expensive_ ," he emphasized, glancing at Beast Boy, "so don't take anything out of this bag until I tell you to do so."

Again, he handed the bag to Raven. Then he began to look around the room. "Well, it's getting late," he said, rubbing his hands together, "so you guys should probably head out."

"Plus, you have school tomorrow, so you should probably get to bed," he chuckled.

Beast Boy and Raven both shuddered as they gathered up their bags and suitcases. They stood in the center of the room and each took a deep breath.

"Stay safe and stay focused on the mission," Robin called.

"Have all the fun at the school of high!" Starfire added.

"Good luck, y'all!" Cyborg chimed in.

As other words of encouragement surrounded them, Beast Boy waved enthusiastically at his friends.

Raven read the address of the hotel and the room number and concentrated their destination. She enveloped them in a bubble of magic, and they slowly disappeared through the floor.

* * *

When the magic around them dissipated, they were in their hotel room. Beast Boy staggered away from Raven dropping his bags on the floor and clutching his head.

"Ugh," he groaned, "your magic always makes me all cold and woozy."

Raven rolled her eyes at him and began looking around the room. She spotted a light between the beds, so she glided over and turned it on.

The rest of the room was simple enough; there were two full size beds on either side of the room, with a small bedside table separating them. There was a desk in the corner of the room with a lamp on it. There was a stand with a TV on it and a minifridge to the left of it. The bathroom was by the entrance to the room.

Raven walked to the large window and opened the curtains. Across the street in plain view, as Robin had told them, was Terra's apartment complex. It was late and dark in the city. The street lights were on, but most of the lights in the apartment building were off.

She carefully closed the curtains and walked to the bed farther away from the window. She slowly set her bags on the bed and then went to the closet and placed the bag Robin gave her on the highest shelf to be sure nothing bad would happen to it. She glanced at the door and, after seeing that it was unlocked, locked the deadbolt with a flick of her powers.

"I guess you've picked which bed you want," Beast Boy commented in his new voice, drawing her attention to him. He had tossed his belongings on the other bed and was already stretched out on the bed with his arms folded behind his head.

"It would appear that way," Raven responded. She silently padded to the bathroom and placed her toiletries in the places she liked. When she returned, Beast Boy was removing random things from his backpack, like various comic books and a hand-held gaming station and placing them on the nightstand.

"You know we're here to work, right? Not for vacation?" Raven deadpanned.

"Duh, of course I know that, but you never know when we'll have free time, and I'd like to be prepared," he said. "Plus, I'll probably have some extra time when I'm not doing any of the homework I've been assigned."

He laughed at his own joke, Raven did not.

Beast Boy turned to look at her. "Despite the homework I totally won't be doing, I think it'll be so cool to go to an actual high school. And it's going to be so fun to be doing a mission together, dude!"

He smiled at her and Raven scoffed.

"What?" He frowned, "You don't think it's cool to be going on a mission with me?"

Raven ignored the dull stab of sadness that poked at her senses, dampened by the new ring she was wearing.

"Beast Boy," Raven said aggravatedly, though her new, fake voice made her still sound pleasant, "it's not that."

"Then what is it?" he asked.

She didn't answer immediately, but he continued to press her.

She finally sighed and said, "I'm just not the high school type."

"What do you mean?" He tilted his head at her.

"Nothing, Beast Boy," Raven said, turning back to her bed and pretending to unpack the rest of her things.

"No, what are you talking about?" he asked again, taking a step towards her.

Raven could tell he didn't want to let this go, so after a few seconds of deliberation, she removed the holographic ring from her finger and turned into herself again. She pulled the voice-changing necklace over her head and levitated both pieces of jewelry safely onto her bed.

"Beast Boy," she sighed in her deep, gravelly voice, "I'm not the high school type, like I said. I'm introverted and quiet, and I don't make friends easily. When I first came to Earth, I couldn't make any friends other than with four other misfits because I wouldn't fit in anywhere else. And even then I was still the creepy one. You said so yourself."

He dropped his eyes to the floor at that.

"I understand this mission isn't about fitting in at high school, but it will still be unpleasant when the people there inevitably push me aside. And even with those pieces of equipment making me look and sound normal," Raven motioned to the jewelry on her bed, "I know I won't fit in at this high school, either."

Because she had taken her power-dampening ring off, Raven could feel the full force of Beast Boy's sympathy towards her.

"I don't want any sympathy," she spat, catching him off guard, "especially from you. You are loud and good with people. You'll fit in just fine, I'm sure."

Beast Boy looked up and narrowed his eyes at her. "Sure," he said, "maybe if I look like this I'll fit in," he gestured wildly to his new appearance, "but when I look like this," he tore off his holo-ring and pulled the necklace over his head, returning to his normal self, "nobody would accept me any more than they would accept you."

He threw the devices onto his bed.

"After my parents died and I was bouncing from place to place, I was always the weird, green freak, Raven," he had raised his voice, but was trying to stay hushed as to not draw attention to their room, "so, just like you, I get what it's like to be an outcast!"

Raven could feel his anger seeping out of him, but, like it had the other day in the common room, the emotion was cutting in and out like static. She was confused by this again, and almost wanted to make him angrier to see if his emotions would continue to fade in and out. However, she thought it might be better to not continue to anger him before either of them said something irreparable right before their mission was to start.

Raven calmed herself and said, "You're right Beast Boy. Sometimes I forget that others can understand what I'm going through."

Her statement reminded her of the time he told her, "You think you're alone Raven, but you're not." The thought almost made her smile.

He huffed out a breath and ran a hand through his green hair. He responded with a simple, "yeah," and sat on the edge of his bed. He placed his forearms on his knees and his hands hung listlessly.

They stayed in silence for a while until Raven began getting ready for bed. She went into the bathroom to brush her teeth and change into her simple pajamas. When she emerged, she found Beast Boy sitting in the same position she had left him in.

Raven could feel a variety of emotions coming from him. He was still angry, but also sad, and a little hurt was there, too.

Normally, she wouldn't engage anyone in conversation, but Raven didn't like the dull look in Beast Boy's normally bright eyes. Debating with herself internally for a moment, she finally asked quietly, "Are you all right, Beast Boy?"

He appeared to snap out of his stupor and threw a smile at her that didn't reach his eyes. "I'm good. Just tired."

He gathered the things he would need for bed and began to walk to the bathroom. Beast Boy started to walk past her, but Raven, in an uncharacteristic move, reached out her hand as if she were going to stop him. Before she touched him, though, she dropped her hand back beneath her cloak. Still, he stopped and looked at her quizzically.

"You haven't been like yourself the past few days, Beast Boy," Raven said as she thought back to him yelling at her in the common room and again just a few moments ago. He had been aggressive and moody, and Raven wasn't exactly sure why. This bothered her, considering her powers generally made it easy for her to read people.

"It's not a big deal. I'm fine," he told her, his face serious. Then he cracked a smile and said, "But I won't be fine if I'm late to my first day of school. And if I have any hope of being on time, I've got to get to sleep soon so I can get my eight hours! You should do the same, Rae!"

With that he bounded into the bathroom.

"It's Raven, not Rae," she automatically replied after him.

A few moments later, Raven could hear the shower running in the bathroom, so she floated above her bed and tried to meditate, but she couldn't clear her mind. She kept thinking about her conversation with Beast Boy. Eventually, she heard the shower shut off, and a couple minutes later Beast Boy came out of the bathroom in his pajamas.

He climbed into his own bed and said a simple, "Good night, Raven," to her. She just hummed in return.

Raven slowly lowered herself down to her bed and pulled the covers over her body. The more she thought about it, the more her conversation with Beast Boy earlier had unnerved her.

Raven had always kept herself isolated and closed off. It was one of the many reasons why she never had any real friends, even on her home planet. She had always been the strange, quiet girl who never made any attempt to communicate with others, so of course they never tried to include her, either.

In many ways, this contributed to the control she gained over her powers as she aged. Raven had plenty of time to focus on her studies and self-control because she was never out with others. She was always reading or with the monks.

She only made real, true friends when she came to live at Titans Tower. Even then, for a long time, she kept a respectable distance from the other Titans and prevented them from learning too much about her, afraid that they would be appalled by what they might find.

Then, after they defeated her father and she had more emotional freedom, Raven had allowed herself to open up more to them, but it was difficult. She had to try to unlearn an entire lifetime of habits, including not letting those around her get to know her.

Which begged the question: why had it been so easy for her to discuss with Beast Boy her feelings about going to high school?

When she had been at the mall with Starfire, she had been clipped with her answers and unwilling to explain anything to her friend. Yet, when Beast Boy asked her a question about what she was feeling, she had answered it.

Though Starfire seemed a logical choice to be more honest with, considering she was also a girl and was too kind to judge Raven for any of her feelings, Raven always found it difficult to participate in "the girl talk" with her.

But with Beast Boy, she had been open and honest. She wasn't sure why. But it gave her a feeling that the mission might not be as easy as she had previously thought.

Raven discontinued her line of thinking and extended her arm to flick out the light on the bedside table. She laid on her back, stared up at the ceiling, and sighed. She was worried for what surprises the next day may bring her.

Eventually, after she made the conscious effort to clear her mind by repeating her mantra a few times, she shut her eyes and allowed the white noise of the hotel air conditioner and the quiet snores of the person in the bed next to her to lull her into a restless sleep.

* * *

A/N: Hi, everyone! Just as I promised, here is the next chapter. I hope you liked it!

I know it isn't every day that Raven dwells on how others might perceive her, but she is still a teenage girl, and she wants friends just as much as anyone else would. Beast Boy seems to want the same thing, though he and Raven definitely aren't seeing eye to eye right now. Hopefully, as this mission continues, our favorite green and gray Titans will find some common ground with each other and stop bickering.

Also, what do you think of Cyborg's inventions? Pretty cool, right? He's always been able to create some pretty rockin' things, I think, so these inventions are definitely within his wheelhouse, I would say.

Finally, if you're enjoying this story so far, I would love a review to let me know. Or if you think something's lacking, let me know that, as well. I welcome both positive reviews and constructive criticism with open arms!

Next chapter: Beast Boy and Raven begin (and start adjusting to) their high school lives.

As always, thanks for reading!


End file.
